What I'm Here For
by Miss Buch
Summary: During their vacation in the Spirit World, Korra needs some consoling. One-shot because I need to get the idea out of my head.


**_Just a little one-shot that has been floating around in my head. I've got exams to revise for, so I had to get it out so I can put in revision instead. Enjoy!_**

**_Miss Buch xx_**

* * *

**And I wrote to tell my family,**

**And I wrote to tell my friends,**

**I arrived home, it was lost again,**

**And this torture never ends. **

_Cassy O, George Ezra_

* * *

Asami had caught her crying. Again. They had been on vacation in the Spirit World for a couple of days now, and the young woman had noticed Korra crying three times now. Each time, the Avatar had rubbed the tears away quickly, and refused to say anything about it, mumbling vague words about it being 'not important'. It was the middle of the night, and the quiet sobs had woken her up. She and Korra were in some kind of relationship now, not that they had even tried to define what it was yet. A sort of unspoken agreement had passed between them where they just didn't talk about it. They had realised their feelings towards each other went deeper than just friendship, probably sometime around after Korra got poisoned but trying to quantify that really wasn't a priority right now. Asami was the only one she had sent letters to and the only one that had offered to come down to the Southern Water Tribe with her to help her heal. Asami pushed the blanket off herself, sitting up next to the young woman next to her.

"Korra?" The Avatar hastily wiped her eyes, not looking at her friend.

"Yeah?" Her voice was thick; there was still that annoying lump in her throat, not matter how much she tried to swallow it down.

"Are you alright?" Asami put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"I'm fine." She said, false brightness filling the words. The CEO sighed.

"Please don't lie to me Korra." Asami spoke quietly, and Korra could hear the sadness in her voice. "You're better than that."

"I'm sorry." Asami rotated herself so that she was facing Korra, sitting cross legged opposite her.

"You have to tell me what's wrong."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want to unload my problems on you."

"Korra!" She admonished. "I'm your friend! You are supposed to unload your problems on me! Please, I'm worried about you." Korra's hands clasped in her lap, and her friend could see her fingers shaking against each other. Asami took hold of them, making the Avatar focus and look into her face. "I know you're afraid. But you should know by now that I'm in this for the long run. For you."

"Ok." Korra took a shuddering breath as she tried to calm herself. "I haven't really told anyone this. Please don't freak out."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

"After I was poisoned, and while I was healing I started getting this visions. Every time I tried so hard to walk, they would put me off. Mostly it was images of Zaheer trying to kill me. I would just get caught up in the flashback, and then I would lose all my strength and fall down. It kept happening when I tried to bend, and when I was sparring. All I ever wanted was to get my bending back, and I couldn't do it. I had this stupid idea that if I could being able to waterbend again, I could bloodbend my legs into working." She said sadly.

"I don't think that's possible – and also illegal. But more importantly, you said 'mostly'."

"I kept seeing her. The images of me while I was stuck in the Avatar Sate, poisoned without any control. I felt every piece of fury and rage that every Avatar has felt in the past coursing through me, and I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to kill Zaheer. I've been scared before, but I had never been as terrified as when I couldn't control my own powers. Inside, I just wanted to make sure my friends were safe, I was worried about you and Mako and Bo, but I wasn't in control anymore. Instead, it was _her,_ trying to obliterate Zaheer. While I was travelling after I learnt to walk again, she haunted me, everywhere I went. She would pop up and disappear all the time; it didn't matter if I was asleep or awake. I thought it would help if I changed the way I looked. So I ditched my normal Water Tribe blue and cut my hair short. I tried to do anything to get her out of me. I kept travelling, looking for Raava, trying to keep busy enough to ignore her, but that didn't help. I didn't want to be known as 'The Avatar' anymore because it just reminded of _her_. After I got all the poison out of my system with Toph, I thought she would go away. But in my fight with Kuvira for Zaofu, she came back. I went into the Avatar state, and I was about to drop a rock on her, but when she turned to look at me, I wasn't fighting Kuvira anymore. It was me again. Or her. Or whatever. I lost the Avatar State and Kuvira beat me."

"So that's what happened? Why didn't you tell any of us?"

"We kind of had bigger things to worry about, so I didn't talk about it."

"Do you keep seeing her then?" Korra pursed her lips as she nodded. "Even after you spoke to Zaheer?" More nodding. "Even since you beat Kuvira?" The response was the same. "Oh Korra, why didn't you tell me before?" Asami's hands cupped her cheeks, seeing the tears sparkling in her eyes.

"She scares me so much 'Sami. Every time I see her, I just re-live everything, and I don't know what to do." Thumbs gently rubbed the small beads of water that were dripping down her face. Asami eyes started to fill with tears too, her heart breaking a little bit over the pain she could see set in the Avatar's features.

"Do you remember what I said when you went away to the Southern Water Tribe?"

"No."

"Pema and I had been looking after you after the poisoning. You could barely move, let alone bend. You told me about how, as a firebender you have this inner fire, but you couldn't feel it anymore. You'd lost your connection to Raava, and just moving your arms was an effort for you. I had never thought or even considered that the Avatar would ever need my help and suddenly you were dependent on me and Pema to help you with everything. You kept saying that you were the worst Avatar ever, defeated and stuck in a wheelchair. I tell you what, you have always been the bravest and strongest person I've ever met and I don't think I could have survived that poisoning. And I told you the day of Jinora's tattoo ceremony that I would always be there for you, and always do whatever I could to help you. I'm well aware that just talking about it isn't going to make things better, life doesn't work like that. But maybe it can make things a little easier." Korra was crying heavily now, the fears from her nightmares filling her head again, despite Asami's words cutting through. The heiress wiped away the tears quickly. "Now stop crying. Because we both know that if you start crying, I'll start crying. And since you have this link to the Spirit World the weather is starting to go a bit funny." Korra looked up with slightly fuzzy eyesight to see dark clouds swirling up ahead. It had started to rain over the mountains in the distance and thunder seemed to rolling towards them. "I need you to calm down for me, ok? You're safe – I'm here, and I promise I'll look after you." Asami pulled her in for a hug, pressing a little kiss on the top of her head. Korra sniffled into her shoulder as a hand rubbed small circles across her back. "You'll be fine, I promise. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told you three years ago. You are strong, and you are going to get through this. And more importantly, you don't have to do it alone."

"Thank you Asami." The CEO turned her eyes skyward to see the clouds starting to recede. The stars started to appear again, and the steadily darkening shades of grey were being replaced by the far more pleasant tones of blue.

"It's ok Korra. It's what I'm here for."


End file.
